Living together in a new apartment

 久しぶりだね。

Yeah, it's been about two months since my last post, and I have been busy.

I was planning to do post about renting apartments in Japan, but before I knew it, my fiance and I have moved into our new apartment. Perhaps I will do that post another time.

Having lived in LeoPalace apartments for most of my time here in Japan, it's hard to describe what it's like to be able to cook in a decent sized kitchen. It also feels weird sleeping in a separate bedroom.

Rent is actually cheaper than my last apartment, considering we are splitting the rent. Even if it was just one of us, it is only a little bit more expensive than the previous apt, but there's just way more space. Even better is that internet is free. It's a basic plan, but given that neither of us plays games online or uploads videos constantly, it's just fine.

In terms of location, it's a little further away from the train station, but still near. But the best thing about the area is there is a lot going on. Plenty of restaurants, shops and even a mall nearby. City hall is within a reasonable walking distance, but because it's closed on weekends, there is fortunately the citizen's service centre. I went there last weekend to give my notice of moving in to the city. Luckily, there was hardly anyone there, so my registration and residence card were processed within the hour. In addition, my regular gym is near the station, which is much more convenient than taking the train every time I wanted to go. While it is a smaller branch, it has just about everything I need for training, though I still think the one in Tsurugashima is the best one I've used so far.

However, moving together with my fiance also brought some problems to light: I have way too many Gunpla for my own damn good - I didn't realize I had another two boxes that I never bothered to open after moving to Saitama 3 years ago. At my fiance's suggestion, I've sorted through what kits I will keep, what I will send back home, and what kits I will sell. Deciding what ones to send back and sell was actually surprisingly easy. It's what I wanted to keep that was the most difficult. To make it easier for me, aside from one kit, the rest are all kits that I haven't built yet. They are also kits I want to customise in some form or another, and they are kits that I have really wanted to build for some time.

I also have some Transformers figures that I sorted through, both official and third party. I decided to keep two of my Iron factory figures. Sadly I will be sending City Commander/Ultra Magnus back to Australia. The ones I want to keep will be Miko the Hunter/Windblade and Rush beats/Jazz. Possible review idea in the future? I still Rushbeats represents the best legends Transformers figures Iron Factory produced at that time. I'll get in to a rant about that once I get around to reviewing it.

We are still adjusting to our new home and new life. But in any case, we can now finally focus our attention on getting married.

Getting used to city life again

For the most part, I have settled in to my new place in Saitama prefecture. One of the things I've noticed since coming here is foreigners are much more common to see around compared to the five years I spent living in Ibaraki prefecture. It will take a bit of getting used to again. 

Though, given Ibaraki has had the honor of being named the worst prefecture for many years now, I guess I shouldn't be surprised in the difference between the two prefectures. Not to mention that Saitama prefecture is pretty much next door to Tokyo. From where I live, it takes less than an hour to get to Tokyo by train.

However, now that I no longer have a car to use, getting around has been a little inconvenient, but not overly difficult. Today, I needed to go to city hall to register may new address. Fortunately, from the train station, it was about a 10 minute bus trip. The procedure wasn't that difficult - it was more waiting on my part, after presenting them my residence card, and my moving out notice from my previous city, along with the statement of my current job description to highlight that I don't need to the national insurance and pension (due to my employer handling these things, I fall under the social insurance and pension - this means that those two will be directly deducted from my salary by my employer, as opposed to me having to go to a convenience store every few months to pay)

Tomorrow, I need to take my medical examination, which I had been putting off until after the move. Fortunately, my employer was kind enough to make the booking for me. Then come Friday, I'll be officially starting my new job. 

ようやく引っ越した――――！！

After the past two days of stress, including 12 hours of driving to  move much of mine and my girlfriend's things, last minute tidying up and packing, I have finally moved in to my new city. Well, technically, I'm in a hotel right now, as electricity hasn't been set up in my new apartment yet - though it should be done by tomorrow. 

As for where I have moved to, I will not specify the city, but I will specify the prefecture, as I am no longer in Ibaraki prefecture anymore:

I also need to set up my water and gas utilities tomorrow, but electricity is more of a priority. Of course after that, I need to go to city hall and register my new address. 

We're in the end game now

So, I've recently started making preparations to move to my new apartment in less than a week. Compared to other times I've moved, this time is particularly stressful. This time, I don't have the support of my employer to help me move my stuff (because I'm leaving the company), and in addition, I'm moving to a completely different prefecture. Also, I have to factor in packing and moving my girlfriend's things too, whereas in previous cases, it was just my stuff.
Fortunately, many of the things that I brought over from my previous apartment were already boxed up. However, a significant number of boxes are dedicated to... all my gunpla. Not just built kits (of which I have plenty of), but also a respectable back log that I have built up since I moved two years ago.

As for transporting my boxes, I was initially going to use the moving service offered by Leopalace (moving in to another Leopalace apartment), but the cost with them turned out to be more expensive than the initial set up costs of my new apartment. So I settled on a combination of renting a van to move some of the furniture and bicycle, and the Yamato service to send most of my boxes for same day delivery. 

And after all that, I have to finish up cleaning the apartment for inspection for Sunday afternoon. 

So yeah, pretty stressful next week.